In praise of whimsical doorknobs

We popped into Scape interiors, which has long been one of my favourite shops in Leigh. It often boasts one of the best Christmas displays (sorry, I said the C word and it's only April) and their home bits often have me drooling / buying.

The flat we've just bought has lots of in-built storage that we love, but the knobs (fnar) need updating. We'd bought some cheapo ones in B&Q but to be honest, they were a panic buy and haven't even made it out of the plastic wrappers. It's like we all know it isn't going to work between us. Lo and behold, Scape was a treasure trove! We bought mismatched faux-vintage doorknobs for our dresser (where we keep all our fancy-schmancy glasses and crockery) and - get this - some bright red owls for the hallway cupboard. Owls! So kitsch! And combining my love of Harry Potter and Twin Peaks! (They're not what they seem, you know.)

Isn't it mad how much joy a £3 doorknob can bring? But by sprucing up the cupboards, we're slowly putting our stamp on our new home. I can't wait to do more to it. We've had some rooms painted, and picked which framed pictures to put where. Bit by bit, it's becoming ours, replacing plain walls with navy and silvery-grey. I knew this was going to be fun, but I hadn't anticipated it. We walked into The Broker (the best pub outside of Old Leigh) and it had been spruced up too, in navy! Oh, how we laughed. We have just had our home painted to basically look like our local pub. Would it be too much to get some optics for the home too? St Austell ales on tap? Peanuts in kilner jars? We'd probably do that one actually. Hipster idiots. But, you see, our last gaff was rented and had rather old fashioned decor. Ageing silk flowers in vases. KITTEN net curtains (sounds amazing, but it went beyond kitsch and into bad), and faded pink herons on the bathroom tiles.

But we can do what we like to the place now, from our vintage Action Men posed on our piano to a plastic brain inside a glass cloche. Yeah. I know. You kind of have to see it. Just don't let me buy any more whimsical doorknobs... ok?

This article is by Ray Morgan. To read all of Ray's previous blogs please click here